By Johanna Ginsberg for the New Jersey Jewish News
Chabad Lubavitch Rabbi Shalom Lubin and Reform Rabbi
Ron Kaplan have forged a unique friendship across the
denominational divide. Photo by Johanna Ginsberg
The two rabbis have an easy, natural rapport. Like family members, they sometimes finish each other’s sentences, or cut each other off, or jump in with a word of praise. They share simhas and sadness. Their relationship is both personal and professional; it extends to their families and their congregations.
And while that kind of friendship can be difficult to attain even among rabbis of the same denomination, Rabbi Shalom Lubin and Rabbi Ron Kaplan are about as far apart, theologically speaking, as two rabbis can be.
Lubin, who runs the Chabad of Southeast Morris County in Madison, is an emissary of Chabad Lubavitch, the hasidic movement steeped in deeply traditional Orthodoxy.